


Soaking In The Attention

by MilkTeaMiku



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alpha Keith (Voltron), Alpha Shiro (Voltron), Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha/Omega, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, M/M, Mates, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Nesting, Omega Lance (Voltron), Polyamory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-20
Updated: 2018-01-20
Packaged: 2019-03-07 05:39:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13427949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MilkTeaMiku/pseuds/MilkTeaMiku
Summary: Lance had always been a furious nester.





	Soaking In The Attention

Lance had always been a furious nester.

The first time he’d nested, about three months after he presented and his first real heat came along, he’d torn up his entire house looking for the right nesting materials. The living room curtains, all the tea towels and oven mitts from the kitchen, flannels from the bathroom, pillows from his parent’s bed – everything. He’d needed it all. He’d stolen clothes from all of his siblings, too – his older brother’s favourite woollen sweater, his older sister’s favourite soft blouse, one patterned scarf each from the younger twins, one of his second youngest sister’s sky-blue tutus, and even a baby suit and tiny beanie from his newborn baby sister.

It was safe to say his pilfering hadn’t gone down too well with his siblings. His parents and his older brother had understood – his father and his brother were both kind-hearted alphas, even if his brother was more on the quiet and serious side. His mother was an omega like him with the same outrageous nesting habits, one’s she’d passed along to him (she liked to take a blanket from each of her children when she went into heat, so they’d taken to sleeping with an extra one when her cycle was coming to a head).

The rest of his siblings didn’t quite understand, but they were all un-presented then, and too young to grasp the concept of omega nesting. His older sister was perhaps the exception. She understood perfectly, but it still annoyed her. Lance used to cling to her in the same way a baby chimp clings to its mother – helplessly and pathetically. It wasn’t like she was his favourite sibling (his eldest brother took that title) but she smelt the safest, and her fresh, beta scent cooled Lance’s headaches. He all but begged for her attention before his heats; it was one of the first signs his parents noticed before he officially presented as an omega.

Now that he was older, his nesting instincts were still as consuming. Some omegas grew out of their obsessive need to nest, but Lance turned out just like his mother. It wasn’t a bad thing, except perhaps for his roommates. He used to steal Hunk’s shirts and his prized apron like clockwork every time his heat came around, and Pidge could all but forget about having any of their pillows, because Lance would steal every single one – even if Pidge brought new ones specifically for Lance’s heat. His actions always left him embarrassed, afterwards. He’d spend hours making sure he washed all their things, that his scent was completely out of everything, before returning the things he’d stolen.

Hunk had never really minded. With an older, omega sister of his own, he was used to having a nesting omega around. Apparently his sister would take his things when they’d both lived at home, even when he was a baby, so he didn’t mind Lance taking his things. It showed that Lance trusted him, Hunk had said. And Pidge, after seeing Lance miserable for having stolen their things, begrudgingly admitted that they liked knowing Lance cared for them enough to want their scent around him while on heat. It was enough for Lance to know that Pidge didn’t mind him taking what he needed, but he was always the most careful with Pidge’s things, never wanting to break their trust or overstep their boundaries. 

Recently, Lance had come to the realisation that his next heat would be the first heat he’d spent with his mates. He’d been on gentle suppressants for a while, just enough to compress his heat down to a day or two, rather than four or five, which was the standard for most omegas. He’d always returned home for his heats, or scheduled a room in a heat hotel, where omegas could safely go for the duration of their heat if they needed somewhere safe to stay. 

But he’d been living together with his alphas for a while now. More than a year. He’d met Keith in college, and while they hadn’t gotten along at first, they’d worked it all out eventually. They’d been together for almost four years now, but Lance had only spent two heats with him. One was so they could bond – Keith had made a mating mark on Lance’s neck, receiving a matching one from Lance, and the hormones from their heat and rut had made the mark scar. The second heat was Lance’s choice. He’d wanted that connection with Keith, and by then he’d been able to sense that they’d needed a third in their relationship, so he wanted something special with just Keith. 

Some omegas didn’t share heats with their alphas for years into their relationship. Some didn’t ever. It was a very instinctual time, and deeply personal. An omega was never more vulnerable than they were while in heat. Since heats weren’t required to conceive (though they were certainly a way to get it done much easier; special medication was required outside of heats for conception to happen) some omegas chose never to have a heat with a partner. Modern social movements had made it clear that the expectation that an omega had to share their heats with anybody was wrong and unfounded. It was a personal choice, and every omega had different wishes.

Lance wasn’t exactly uncomfortable around Keith – the opposite, actually. By now he trusted Keith entirely to take care of him, to make sure he was safe and happy and unharmed. It was just difficult for them to find the right time to share a heat. At first, they’d lived in separated apartments, both with roommates. Hotels where they could share his heat were expensive, so it was cheaper and less trouble for Lance to return home to have his heat, like usual. Even when they’d gotten an apartment together work requirements and a lack of space had made it difficult to plan out a heat. Lance needed somewhere secure and private to nest, and since they’d only had one bedroom, there’d been no proper room for him. The two heats they’d shared had taken a long time to plan, but they were important ones.

It had frustrated Keith at first. He’d felt like a bad alpha, like he wasn’t providing for his omega. Knowing that Lance wanted to share his heats but being unable to fulfil that desire made Keith upset. Lance spent ages convincing him that wasn’t the case. He was pretty sure Keith had only just started to believe him, but actually spending heats together had made the young alpha more confident. Keith knew that Lance’s enthusiastic consent was something precious, and the few heats they spent together – both which left Lance intensely satisfied – made Keith understand just how deeply Lance cared for him.

When Shiro joined their relationship, it took ages for their instincts to settle. Shiro was older and stronger than Keith, and far more experienced. Both Keith and Lance had liked him from the moment they met him – he was a friend of Pidge’s older brother, Matt, so it had been inevitable that one day they’d meet. 

Fortunately for them, Shiro had taken a liking to them, too. He’d seen them for what they were: an omega and alpha pairing with a lot of fire, bickering, and protectiveness. Somehow they’d charmed him enough for him to look deeper, and he’d found what they really were: still the same fiery pairing, but eager to please one another, willing to give one another a soft place to hide if they needed it, a pairing looking for direction from someone who could control Keith’s alpha instincts, someone who similarly knew how to care for Lance’s omega instincts without letting him run them over. 

Having a third enter a relationship wasn’t uncommon. Any number of gender combinations could be commonly found in society. Sometimes a beta and an alpha needed the softness of an omega to calm them. Sometimes an omega and a beta needed an experienced alpha to teach them to control their instincts. Sometimes an omega with an alpha needed a beta or another alpha to stabilise the relationship. 

That’s what Shiro was to them. A teacher; someone who could balance out their tempers, quell their arguments, show them how to fit their instincts together like perfect puzzle pieces instead of butting heads. 

At first, he hadn’t thought they were interested in him. Lance was always astounded by the way Shiro thought of them, how he’d always valued them so highly. To him, they had been unattainable. They were already perfection, despite their more visible flaws. They were more than he could ever hope for. He’d thought to himself, “I could fit there, in between them,” but hadn’t believed he deserved to, or that they wanted him to.

Oh how they’d wanted him.

It took an argument between Lance and Keith to make Shiro realise just how much they’d already accepted him as their alpha. Lance couldn’t even remember what the argument had been about, but the minute Keith had raised his voice too high, Shiro had stepped in. He’d coddled Lance behind him and grabbed Keith by the back of the neck, holding him still with just enough pressure to assert his dominance. He hadn’t even realised what he’d been doing until Keith let out a submissive rumble, accepting Shiro’s control over the situation.

He’d been so guilty with himself. Shiro had thought he’d overstepped, that he’d interfered with their relationship and forced himself on them. It was true that an alpha wrongfully asserting dominance was very frowned upon, and in some cases quite illegal. The real truth of the situation couldn’t have been further from that. 

As if a hot-headed alpha like Keith would have ever submitted to, or allowed his omega to be handled by an alpha he didn’t explicitly trust.

But that was all in the past now. Lance had let Shiro mark him, and his bite had scarred even without heat, because Lance’s body and mind had already accepted him as an alpha. It was rare for that to happen, but it helped that Keith had accepted Shiro, too. There’d been enough hormones rising in all of them just from the proximity of one another – particularly the proximity of a dominant alpha now with them – for the bite to take. Shiro had bitten Keith too, and once he’d cleaned them up, he’d let them bite him in return. 

That was just over a year ago. Lance had been mated to Keith for four years now, and mated to Shiro for one and a half. They’d been living together in a decently sized place for a year, and Lance had become accustomed to it. He’d slowly been easing off his suppressants, though he hadn’t told his mates he was ready to spend a heat with them yet. He’d used heat hotels for all his previous heats, and they’d respected his decision, even if being vulnerable and away from them always left them a little tense. Well, very tense. The days after he’d returned were filled with near-constant scenting and very intense pampering (which he didn’t mind).

This time would be different. It was a change only he recognised, one that came from a very deep, instinctual part of him. The decision was personal, so he’d kept it private, for the most part. Easing off his suppressants was the first step, and he didn’t make another booking at his favourite heat hotel. He knew the nesting would come next and his mates would notice something was up, but that didn't particularly bother him. He already knew they’d be more than happy to share a heat with him, and he wasn’t worried about being weak and pumped full of instincts around them. 

He knew they’d take care of him.

And so his furious nesting instincts took over.

Their little home had two bedrooms, and the second bedroom was the perfect place for him to start building a nest. There was a spare bed already set up, and not as intense a build-up of scents as their main bedroom. He knew that in future he’d move his nest to their bed, maybe on his next heat, but for now he needed a blank slate. Somewhere he could test the extent of his instincts, see what worked for him in this new environment without the intrusion of his mates.

He started with blankets. They were the easiest thing to find, and with three people sharing a bed, they had heaps to spare. Lance raided the linen closet when his mates weren’t home and started on his nest. The sheets on the spare bed had to be stripped back, but he didn’t toss them aside yet. They would made good padding for later.

As his heat slowly but surely drew closer, he started contemplating about what else could go in his nest. He’d definitely need one of the decorative cushions on the couch, maybe the one Keith favoured. And he wanted the bathroom towels, including the little ones used for drying hands. He starting taking them when no one was looking, snatching them from the hamper or from the clean piles of washing. He took the tea towel from the kitchen after Shiro had touched it, too. 

Soon enough his nest was taking shape. He’d arrange it in the middle of the night, or when his mates weren’t home. It wasn’t like he intended to be secretive, but omegas were very protective of their nests, and he was no different. 

Things became more difficult when he started wanting clothes. He could hide away his things without a problem, but the clothes he wanted from his mates were the ones that carried their scent the best – the things they wore the most. Shiro’s favourite black shirts and Keith’s red jacket were high on his list of things he needed.

He began with something easier: Keith’s fingerless gloves. He wore them everywhere and they felt sensational on Lance’s skin, and he definitely needed them in his nest. Since Keith was always wearing them, and Lance was definitely not hiding his nest, he decided to just go for it. What was Keith going to do, refuse him?

Blissfully unaware of what was happening, that was exactly what Keith did when Lance tried to take them.

Expectedly, Lance put up a fight. He was feeling more and more emotional with each day that came and went, and definitely more snappy. “But I want them,” he’d argued, when Keith questioned why he wanted the gloves.

“They’re mine,” Keith had said, frowning.

“But I want them,” Lance stressed, trying to make a snatch for the prized gloves.

“Lance, stop it!”

He hadn’t meant to, but Lance had burst into tears. Rationally, he knew Keith wasn’t rejecting him, and was just confused, but it felt enough like a rejection that he was immediately upset. The sour change in his scent perked Keith up right away, and brought Shiro running. Even if Lance and Keith bickered, it was never true arguing. Lance’s scent never went sour unless he was truly distressed, like that first time when Shiro stepped in.

And like that time, he stepped in again.

“Hey, hey, what’s the problem?” He soothed, as he stepped in between them, putting one arm around Lance’s waist and using the other to take a hold of Keith’s hand. His scent bloomed, filling the living room until Lance’s tears turned to sniffles and the confused frown furrowing Keith’s eyebrows lessened. 

“I don’t know, Lance just started crying,” Keith said, sounding oddly pained.

“He won’t let me have his gloves!” Lance snapped.

Shiro frowned, silently assessing the situation. He glanced between his mates, then lowered his head to sniff Lance’s hair. Lance allowed the gentle scenting only because he was hyper-focused on Keith’s gloves. 

He needed them for his nest.

“I think you should give them to Lance,” Shiro finally said, giving Keith a look out of the corner of his eyes. When Keith went to argue, Shiro tightened his grip on Keith’s wrist, quelling his rising confusion. 

With his top alpha’s permission, Lance snatched at the gloves and made off with them. He knew his alphas would understand, and even if he regretted his selfish behaviour later, he at least had the comfort of the gloves now. They smelled so strongly of Keith that all the tenseness in Lance unravelled, taking his frustration with it.

His mates caught onto him that evening, when Lance continued to raid their closets. He found Keith’s red jacket, much to Keith’s chagrin, and happily stole all of Shiro’s black shirts, every single one of them. With free reign of all the fabrics in the house, he’d raided every room, taking whatever caught his fancy. The couch cushion, the pillows from their main bed, Shiro’s winter scarves and Keith’s grey beanie. He sort of wished he had clothes from his siblings and parents, just so their familiar scents were near, but they weren’t necessary.

By dinner time, his nest was almost ready. He’d arranged everything how he wanted. Towels and rougher fabrics went first, cushioning the mattress, and were followed by sheets and blankets. He used clothes to bulk up the scents of his mates, and put the pillows from their bed right on top. Everything was arranged in a neat, cosy circle, big enough for all of his mates to comfortably fit in. Once he had enough food and water for the three of them, everything would be ready. He felt safe enough with this nest to go onto heat.

All he had to do was wait.

Shiro found him relaxing on the couch a little while later. He shuffled Lance around until he could curl up next to him, as much was possible for a man of his size. His nose went straight to Lance’s neck, sniffing out the scent of his heat. “Are you feeling okay?” He questioned.

Lance hummed. Without the rush of nest-building taking up space in his mind, he felt relaxed and calm. He let Shiro scent him all he wanted, soaking in the attention. “Sorry for being snappy,” he murmured.

“Don’t be.” Shiro pressed a gentle kiss to his cheek. He lifted his head, turning to look towards the kitchen, and let out a quiet rumble. It was a sound exclusive to alphas, and Keith’s returning rumble spoke words Lance couldn’t understand.

Keith appeared a moment later, and took Shiro’s invitation to join them on the couch, worming his way in on Lance’s other side. His hands found Lance’s hips, and just like Shiro, his nose disappeared into the crook of Lance’s neck. It seemed like Shiro had told him what was going on. It made sense that Keith was a little unaware of it all – despite spending two heats with Lance in the past, it hadn’t been like this. Lance’s hormones weren’t as intense, and neither were his nesting instincts. It was different with two alphas around.

“Sorry for being snappy,” he repeated for Keith’s benefit. 

“It’s fine,” Keith mumbled. His hands petted Lance’s hips for reassurance. 

“Will you be staying here for your heat?” Shiro asked, voice careful and polite. Lance found his manners endearing, but knew Shiro was being courteous for a reason. Even if an omega built a nest in the family home, that didn’t mean they were willing to share their heat. 

But Lance had every intention on staying, so he nodded. Technically, this was Shiro’s house, so he added, “If you don’t mind.”

“Of course not,” Shiro chuckled. “I want you to say. You’re my mate.”

Lance smiled to himself. He’d never thought he’d be lucky enough to have mates like he did, ones that were so willing and eager to take care of his every need. 

“Are we staying?” Keith asked, as blunt as always. Shiro cast him a dubious look, clearly disapproving, but Lance only laughed. He liked Keith’s bluntness, he always had.

“If you don’t mind,” he said, teasing.

Keith snorted.

Shiro stroked Lance’s hair, amused. “Of course we don’t mind,” he said. “Whatever you want, we’ll give.”

Lance hummed. Keith pressed in closer and Shiro continued to stroke his hair, and soon enough he was purring, all drowsy and warm. He listened as his alphas murmured amongst themselves, and watched television for a little while, before Shiro decided it was time for bed. Keith went ahead to assemble whatever was left of their bedding while Shiro scooped up Lance’s pliant body from the couch.

“Did you find enough for your nest?” He asked, voice quiet.

Lance nodded. He hadn’t thought that Shiro would’ve been concerned about that, but this was going to be his first heat with the alpha. Shiro was probably worried that the home he’d provided his mates with wasn’t to their tastes, wasn’t good enough in some way. 

But Lance thought it was perfect. “Couldn’t have asked for more,” he told Shiro, who gave him a dazzling, relieved smile in return. 

It was interesting trying to sleep in a bed that had been all but stripped of its essentials. They were using the rest of the couch pillows to cushion their heads, and Shiro had scavenged some blankest from somewhere to keep them warm. It made Lance laugh. “Sorry about that,” he said, though he was hardly apologetic. 

“At least we know your nest is going to be the most comfortable one on the planet,” Keith said, as he made himself comfortable stomach-down on the mattress. “You’ve used everything we have.”

Lance couldn’t help but puff up at the compliment. Omegas usually stayed in their nests once they’d been built, even if that was days before their heat, but he wanted to be with his mates. He’d missed their company while he’d been building.

Laying down on the bed, Lance couldn’t help but let his mind roam towards his heat. He listened to Shiro rustle around the house, checking locks and turning off lights. Keith’s breathing beside him was already slowing, though he wouldn’t sleep until Shiro was back. Neither of them could, not now that they were used to their alpha being with them.

Contemplative, Lance rolled over to face Keith, who blinked open his eyes when he felt Lance’s stare. “Are you okay?” Lance asked. 

It took Keith a moment to realise what Lance was asking. A small, affectionate smile flittered across his face, and he lifted a hand to cup Lance’s cheek, watching him fondly. “I’m okay,” he said, stroking Lance’s cheek. 

This would be the first heat they’d spent all together, not just Lance and Keith. He wanted to know if Keith was okay with sharing with Shiro, if he was okay with having another alpha around. This was one of the reasons Lance had asked for a second heat with Keith, so that they had something together, just the two of them. It wasn’t to exclude Shiro, but it was something they could share, to commemorate their mateship. Lance had chosen Keith first, after all.

“I’m okay, really,” Keith repeated. He leaned a little bit closer to press a small, sweet kiss to Lance’s lips. His voice was soft. “I’ve had my fill. I think it’s time to share now.”

Lance couldn’t help but laugh at that. 

“And besides,” Keith said, as he pressed closer, “it’s only fitting that we give our alpha a taste of what we’ve got, right?”

“What are you two whispering about?”

Keith joined Lance in laughing this time. They pulled away from one another, hiding snickers, which only made Shiro roll his eyes. He flopped down between them, pulling one mate under each arm, and playfully growled until they submitted to his affections.

Lance had no doubt that his mates would take care of him. He’d never had any. As he lay there, curled against Shiro’s side, knowing Keith was near too, he felt himself relax. He knew the smile on his face would never leave.


End file.
